fermenting how do you deal with pests when fermenting chilies.

[meescha]

I was making my first hot sauce, well i was trying to ferment my peppers first, i had everything right i think, i made a brine with a 3.5% salt and 3.5% sugar, i wanted a sweeter hot sauce, i added black pepper corns and garlic. used all of the ecuador chilies i had, and put a cheese cloth over it. it was all going well, untill i opened the cuboard i had it in, and well there were tons of fruit flies all around it, i ended up having to toss the whole batch, thinking fruit flies would lay eggs and id have an entire batch of maggots. how do you all deal with this? i dont really have an air tight cuboard, but i supposed i could build one, but i am curious what everyone else does.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Sealed container with air lock

 

[meescha]

Sealed container with air lock

i just googled it and thats interessting, didnt even think about this, ill have to use it for my next attempt, thanks

 

[SatanicFlatIron]

there were tons of fruit flies all around it

I also recommend using only water and salt for the brine. Sugar triggers alcoholic fermentation, which isn't what you want; you want lactic fermentation. You can add the sugar later when you make the actual sauce

 

[Hammer Town]

You can also put a sterile rubber glove over top of the bottle and burp it once in awhile when you see it filling up. Make sure to sterilize your hands before doing so.

 

[meescha]

I also recommend using only water and salt for the brine. Sugar triggers alcoholic fermentation, which isn't what you want; you want lactic fermentation. You can add the sugar later when you make the actual sauce

you make a valid point, i wasnt thinking about this.

You can also put a sterile rubber glove over top of the bottle and burp it once in awhile when you see it filling up. Make sure to sterilize your hands before doing so.

ive got a box of vynil gloves i got for making candy canes i could use,

side note about the gloves, i used them to cut the chilis, but when handling the jar some brine went all over my hands and i wasnt wearing gloves at that time, my hands ended up burning for at least a day, no matter what i did i couldnt get my hands to stop burning heh. i swear the brine was spicier then the peppers, the peppers i used i could handle without gloves no problem if i wanted to, i could chow on the peppers like candy, but damn that brine was spicy, the peppers i used were only supposed to be 30k shu. ill have to be more carefull with my next batch which will be some 7 pot primos heh.

 

[Hammer Town]

you make a valid point, i wasnt thinking about this.

ive got a box of vynil gloves i got for making candy canes i could use,

side note about the gloves, i used them to cut the chilis, but when handling the jar some brine went all over my hands and i wasnt wearing gloves at that time, my hands ended up burning for at least a day, no matter what i did i couldnt get my hands to stop burning heh. i swear the brine was spicier then the peppers, the peppers i used i could handle without gloves no problem if i wanted to, i could chow on the peppers like candy, but damn that brine was spicy, the peppers i used were only supposed to be 30k shu. ill have to be more carefull with my next batch which will be some 7 pot primos heh.

The first time I made and bottled salsa was precipitated by getting a tray of scotch bonnets on clearance. I carefully examined my hands for cuts etc and thought I’d be safe bare handed. It didn’t take too long for that to not be the case, much to my dismay. I finished up and ended up putting my hands in a bowl of ice water for several hours. If I’d known then what I know now I would have aggressively washed with dish soap and soaked in milk.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

i just googled it and thats interessting, didnt even think about this, ill have to use it for my next attempt, thanks

I like the look of these, haven't tried them yet.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

You can also put a sterile rubber glove over top of the bottle and burp it once in awhile when you see it filling up.

You can do this if you like a ton of microplastics in your ferment (from stretching the glove over it).

 

[meescha]

The first time I made and bottled salsa was precipitated by getting a tray of scotch bonnets on clearance. I carefully examined my hands for cuts etc and thought I’d be safe bare handed. It didn’t take too long for that to not be the case, much to my dismay. I finished up and ended up putting my hands in a bowl of ice water for several hours. If I’d known then what I know now I would have aggressively washed with dish soap and soaked in milk.

i did aggresively wash my hands, i used vegetable oil since that helps bind capcaisin and then washed with dish soap, i did that multiple times and still didnt work. but this was the brine and not the peppers themselves, its possible that it penetrated too deep in the skin to do anything about it.